Border securityBorder funding causes Napolitano's metaphorical whiplash
In a major shift from the $600 million emergency supplemental fund approved by congress and signed by President Obama last year, the Obama administration’s fiscal 2012 budget will not seek big funding increases for border security, and may actually decrease funding in some areas
Funeral of ICE agent Jaime Jorge Zapata // Source: statesman.com
In a major shift from the $600 million emergency supplemental fund approved by congress and signed by President Obama last year, the Obama administration’s fiscal 2012 budget will not seek big funding increases for border security, and may actually decrease funding in some areas.
Responding to House Republicans trying to cut border security in the pending fiscal 2011 spending bill was “an experience in whiplash” according to DHS secretary Napolitano in a statement delivered to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week.
Napolitano said the fiscal 2012 budget request “reflects this administration’s strong commitment to protecting the homeland and the American people through the effective use of DHS resources.”
Concerns about gaps along the nation’s border, especially with Mexico, persist. The ICE agent that was shot and killed and another wounded in Mexico earlier this month are fueling fears that the drug war in Mexico is spinning out of control and increasingly affecting U.S. interests.
“I am convinced, tragically, that if the status quo remains, that violence will continue to spill over to our side of the border,” Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) told Napolitano during Thursday’s hearing. “The level of violence in Mexico continues to go up dramatically.”
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), said after the hearing the shooting was an “assassination” and “like an act of war.”
For next fiscal year, the administration is seeking about $10.4 billion for CBP, compared to approximately $10.1 billion for fiscal 2010, the last year Congress approved a budget. The funding will maintain about 21,370 Border Patrol agents, while allowing for the hiring of 300 more CBP officers at ports of entry. About $5.5 billion is being sought in fiscal 2012 for ICE, on par with fiscal 2010.
The recent decision for DHS to scrap their virtual fence along the Southern border will allow the department to focus on what sections of the border need in terms of technology and infrastructure (“DHS pulls plug on virtual border fence project” 17 January 2011 HSNW.)
To that end, the department is seeking about $528 million for its SBInet program, compared to about $825 million in actual spending in 2010.
The administration also proposes a $194-million reduction in funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, an immigration-enforcement program run by the Justice Department.
But the DHS budget seeks funding to continue expanding the Secure Communities program, which runs the fingerprints of illegal immigrants who are arrested against federal databases to determine if they have a criminal record. The department is seeking $184 million for the program, a $64 million increase.
